Optics: Health, Crisis, and Care

International Center for Photography

This three-part sub-series of Optics: A New Way of Seeing Contemporary Culture will focus on Health, Crisis, and Care. For this first virtual conversation, ICP Director of Exhibitions and Collections Erin Barnett, scholar and curator of the 2019 Museum of the City of New York exhibition Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis Dr. Rebecca Jacobs, and host Reya Seghal will look at visualizing viruses.

From hand-washing graphics and emoji-clad face masks, to images of social distancing and empty spaces�"what is the visual language of the COVID-19 pandemic? How have viruses and germs been depicted historically and today? How do we visualize the spread of contagions and the very concept of virality?

Join Optics series host Reya Seghal for this special virtual series exploring the photographs of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ways photographs build understanding, inform policy, and themselves, go viral.

Future Optics: Health, Crisis, and Care programs to be announced.

This program will take place on Zoom. Those who register to attend will receive an email with a link to join the lecture through a computer or mobile device prior to the program start time. Note: the Zoom app is recommended for participation in the program. Learn how to download the latest version of Zoom to your computer or mobile device.

For more questions about the virtual lecture, please contact: programs@icp.org. Visit our website for more info.